A-B gets serious about online age checks before launching Bud TV
Anheuser-Busch plans to use an outside firm to keep underage visitors from visiting its web sites.
Many brewers, distillers and winemakers currently use an honor system to keep teens from visiting their sites. Visitors are asked to enter a birth date to enter, but the information is never verified.
Tony Ponturo, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of global media and sports marketing, said the company decided to change its policy before launching Bud.TV in February. The site will stream beer-themed shows, sports events and musical acts 24 hours a day.
The screening process likely will ask visitors for a name, age and address, including zip code, Ponturo said. The data can be matched against public records such as driver’s licenses and voter registration cards.
Verified would then receive a password that would let them enter any Anheuser-Busch site.
Ponturo said he’s in the final stages of choosing the screening company.